Ray Kroc didn’t just sell hamburgers—he believed in them. In the 1950s, he turned McDonald's into the world’s largest fast-food empire, one sizzling patty at a time. Today, we honor the humble burger—comfort food with soul—just in time for National Hamburger Day.

The hamburger made its juicy debut at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, thanks to a group of enterprising Texans. But who invented it? That depends on who’s telling the tale. Some say it was Fletcher Davis of Athens, Texas. Others point to brothers Charles and Frank Menches, who swapped sausage for ground beef at a county fair in Hamburg, New York—accidentally naming a classic.

Still others claim Louis Lassing in Connecticut invented the dish in 1900. Or perhaps it began at the Canadian National Exhibition in 1912. Some trace it all the way back to the Middle Ages, with "Hamburg steak" listed in the 1802 Oxford English Dictionary as salt beef.

Its rise paralleled the invention of the mechanical meat grinder in the 1860s. As philosopher Lucius Seneca once said, “The best ideas are common property.”

According to the National Cattleman's Beef Association, Americans eat 50 billion burgers each year. In 1970, during a meat shortage, General Mills introduced Hamburger Helper to stretch ground beef into a meal. But when it comes to flavor, the grill still reigns supreme.

As the Italian Proverb says, “Even an old boot tastes good if it is cooked over charcoal.”

So gently shape that ground beef into patties. Wait for the coals to turn ashy and hot. Flip with care—never press—and most of all: savor the moment.